Please let me (an ordinary Dutch civilian) make some comments to what is called "the Balkan crisis". It is clear that all of you must feel outraged by the NATO-bombardments. I have always had deep respect for your country and your culture and I truly hope that this will soon come to an end.

I am not an historian and the background of the recent conflicts on the Balkan is none of my business. History, however, has proven many times that even a civilization of high standards always contains elements that are a danger under certain conditions. A society that is not able to cut out its own rotten parts will find little respect. If you are not able to see things that everybody else is seeing very clearly, you will find nobody interested in who is right and who is wrong and end up with a very few friends. Let me end where I started: I have always had deep respect for your country and your culture and I truly hope that this will soon come to an end.